The present invention relates to an industrial robot and, more particularly, to a robot hand of an industrial robot which can judge whether a member to be transported is positioned at a correct position on the robot hand.
In conventional semiconductor manufacturing steps, the composition critical to performance of semiconductor wafers must be seriously controlled. Therefore, it is necessary to load or transport each semiconductor wafer from one jig to another in an environment free of mixing impurity. However, such a suitable device is not available. Further, the conventional transport means is not equipped with a position sensing means. Therefore, the semiconductor wafer may be damaged or broken by striking against a carrier cassette or a heat treating boat when the semiconductor wafer is loaded or unloaded onto the wafer receiving portion of the heat treating boat or the carrier cassette.
When the semiconductor wafer is damaged, the semiconductor wafer may be defective, or fine dust may be produced. Thus, the environment in the manufacturing factory may be harmed.
Accordingly, it is desired that an improved robot hand be provided which detects whether the semiconductor wafer is positioned at the correct or a predetermined position.
If it is not detected whether the position of the semiconductor wafer is correct or incorrect, it is difficult to utilize an automatic semiconductor manufacturing system.